Microsoft DOS comp command
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About comp
Availability
Syntax
Examples
About comp
A simple compare that compares two or more files.
Availability
The comp.exe command is an external command and is available in the below Microsoft operating systems.
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Syntax
Compares the contents of two files or sets of files.
COMP [data1] [data2] [/D] [/A] [/L] [/N=number] [/C]
| data1 |
Specifies location and name(s) of first file(s) to compare. |
| data2 |
Specifies location and name(s) of second files to compare. |
| /D |
Displays differences in decimal format. |
| /A |
Displays differences in ASCII characters. |
| /L |
Displays line numbers for differences. |
| /N=number |
Compares only the first specified number of lines in each file. |
| /C |
Disregards case of ASCII letters when comparing files. |
To compare sets of files, use wildcards in data1 and data2 parameters.
Examples
Note: Unless the /N option is used the comp command will only compare the size of the file.
comp file1.txt file2.txt /N=10 /A
Compares file1.txt with file2.txt. In this example we are using the /A option to display the ASCII characters that the compare has found different. If the /A option is not displayed, the comp command will display the differences in hexadecimal notation. Below is an example of how the comp command may display the comparison in this example.
Compare error at LINE 5
file1 = i
file2 = o
Compare error at LINE 5
file1 = v
file2 = u
Compare error at LINE 5
file1 = e
file2 = r
Compare error at LINE 6
file1 = s
file2 = f
Compare error at LINE 6
file1 = x
file2 = v
Compare error at LINE 6
file1 =
file2 = e
Compare error at LINE 7
file1 =
file2 =
Compare error at LINE 7
file1 =
file2 =
Compare error at LINE 8
file1 =
file2 = s
File1 only has 7 lines |
